Fusion Power Associates
2 Professional Drive, Suite 248
Gaithersburg, MD 20879
phone: (301) 258-0545
fax: (301) 975-9869
e-mail: fpa@compuserve.com
web: http://fusionpower.org

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FPN02-39

Heavy Ion Fusion Test Stand Operates

May 29, 2002

STS-500, a 500 kilovolt ion source test stand, as begun operation at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as a part of the US Heavy Ion Fusion program. The test stand can generate a 17 microsecond, 500 kV pulse every few seconds. Two sources, a surface ionization source and a gas plasma source, will be tested initially. The STS-500 will allow experiments to be conducted on aperturing high-current beams, high electric field gradient insulators, beam-beam effects and merging, and long-pulse-width beam physics. One experiment will involve a multiple beamlet source in which many milliamp beams are extracted and transported individually before being merged, creating a 1-amp beam.

For further information, contact STS-500 project manager Larry Ahle (ahle1@llnl.gov).